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So, I started using inbox a while ago when it was announced and I love it. Really. What's the state of development of it? Doesn't seems to be moving much and a

So, I started using inbox a while ago when it was announced and I love it. Really. What's the state of development of it? Doesn't seems to be moving much and a lot of features from gmail are still missing, and I continue to see dev happening on gmail and not on inbox. Should I be moving back to inbox?

sushisource 9y ago
Yeah, inbox seems vastly superior to me, with the exception that it runs like absolute shit on Firefox which I can only interpret as intentional, considering I find FF faster than Chrome for a lot of other stuff these days.
- lkbm 9y ago
  Some JS features are faster on Chrome and some on Firefox. Additionally, while Firefox is killing it on CSS and some layout stuff with Stylo and WebRender, JS is the area where Firefox isn't dominating. It's trivial to explain the speed difference without assuming it intentional. In Inbox's case, sparse arrays were an issue initially[0] (and like many of the perf issues, it's been fixed[1].) There will always be perf trade-offs. If you find any where they chose X over Y when X and Y are equal on Chrome, and X is faster than Y on Firefox, then let's talk about anti-competitive behavior. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8495498 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8495498 [1] https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1087963 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1087963
- vmarsy 9y ago
  I specifically installed Firefox 57 so that I could try Inbox there, because as you point out, on Firefox 56 it's very slow (especially the initial load). On Firefox 57 with that new Quantum CSS, I found Inbox to be amazingly fast (I'd say even faster than Chrome on my yoga pro 2 - except for the right pane of Google Hangouts which takes a while to load still)
bengotow 9y ago
I think the problem is that 10% of Gmail users think Inbox is awesome and the rest think it's godawful for breaking 'feature X' they loved. Where feature X isn't one feature but a thousand tiny things. I think with Add-ons, they're trying to extend Gmail in a way that won't offend anyone married to the current UI.
fareesh 9y ago
Came to post this as well. Inbox is a great product, but it seems to have been forgotten - probably because most of the users still use gmail, since getting "normies" to switch to anything is near impossible without social pressure being some contributor to the switch. Plus, Gmail still has a ton of features that were never ported over, which will also prevent some advanced users who rely on these features consistently, from switching. Inbox is in a weird place - the features we want in Gmail are in Inbox. The features we want in Inbox are in Gmail. The mails are in the same place. The web clients are separate codebases. I can't imagine all the talented people working at either team are happy with this situation given the way their contributions end up not coming to us users because of this separation. If anyone here is on either team, or has some insight into this, I'd really like to understand what the thinking is behind this stuff. The same sort of goes for Allo, Hangouts, etc. What gives, Google?
- dvirsky 9y ago
  I really hope Google won't abandon Inbox and continue developing it, I'd really hate to go back to Gmail.
  - 2dvisio 9y ago
    You could move to Spark (if Mac user)
    - dvirsky 9y ago
      I've never tried it. I'm moving between Mac and Linux so I need a web based client.
      - fareesh 9y ago
        I am in the same boat - Linux for Desktop and MBP for Laptop. Web based clients are essential.
- themacguffinman 9y ago
  I think you're missing the point of Inbox. It's not supposed to replace Gmail, not now and not ever. It's an additional way of using Gmail, hence why its full name is actually "Inbox by Gmail". Inbox is an attempt to make Gmail easier to use for the average user who has simple needs, so all the "power user" features you want aren't supposed to be in Inbox. If your needs are complicated, you can just use Gmail. Inbox doesn't really introduce any new features that Gmail cannot do, it simply reframes Gmail features in a different UI and workflow. For example, Inbox's "done" action is available in Gmail, but in Gmail it's called "archive". Same with Inbox's "bundles": they're just called "tabs" in Gmail. As an Inbox user, I'm pretty happy with the state of Inbox. I don't need extra features get my stuff done in Inbox. Porting every Gmail feature to Inbox is missing the point.
Myrmornis 9y ago
Came to post this question also. I switched to Inbox when it came out and never looked back. The automated linking of travel emails into a cluster pertaining to the same trip, for example, is extremely useful, and after pinning anything that needs attention, clearing your inbox with the sweep button is amazing. Some clarity from google on the future of these two products would be nice.
overint 9y ago
I completely agree, I found inbox a little while ago and it's amazing. It's cut my time spent on emails by a factor of 10, and I love the inbuilt reminder system. There are a few minor annoyances but the massive time savings are well worth dealing with them.
boomskats 9y ago
Something others haven't mentioned here when discussing the gmail vs inbox situation is the trio of products, Keep + Cal + Inbox, that make for an absolutely _awesome_ reminder workflow/experience. IMHO if there's one thing missing from Gmail right now is the integration of Reminders from the other products. It doesn't really fit with the gmail workflow though, so I guess it's just another example of the same 'gmail should be more inboxy/inbox should be more gmaily' argument.

sushisource 9y ago

Yeah, inbox seems vastly superior to me, with the exception that it runs like absolute shit on Firefox which I can only interpret as intentional, considering I find FF faster than Chrome for a lot of other stuff these days.

lkbm 9y ago
Some JS features are faster on Chrome and some on Firefox. Additionally, while Firefox is killing it on CSS and some layout stuff with Stylo and WebRender, JS is the area where Firefox isn't dominating. It's trivial to explain the speed difference without assuming it intentional. In Inbox's case, sparse arrays were an issue initially[0] (and like many of the perf issues, it's been fixed[1].) There will always be perf trade-offs. If you find any where they chose X over Y when X and Y are equal on Chrome, and X is faster than Y on Firefox, then let's talk about anti-competitive behavior. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8495498 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8495498 [1] https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1087963 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1087963
vmarsy 9y ago
I specifically installed Firefox 57 so that I could try Inbox there, because as you point out, on Firefox 56 it's very slow (especially the initial load). On Firefox 57 with that new Quantum CSS, I found Inbox to be amazingly fast (I'd say even faster than Chrome on my yoga pro 2 - except for the right pane of Google Hangouts which takes a while to load still)

bengotow 9y ago

I think the problem is that 10% of Gmail users think Inbox is awesome and the rest think it's godawful for breaking 'feature X' they loved. Where feature X isn't one feature but a thousand tiny things. I think with Add-ons, they're trying to extend Gmail in a way that won't offend anyone married to the current UI.

fareesh 9y ago

Came to post this as well. Inbox is a great product, but it seems to have been forgotten - probably because most of the users still use gmail, since getting "normies" to switch to anything is near impossible without social pressure being some contributor to the switch. Plus, Gmail still has a ton of features that were never ported over, which will also prevent some advanced users who rely on these features consistently, from switching. Inbox is in a weird place - the features we want in Gmail are in Inbox. The features we want in Inbox are in Gmail. The mails are in the same place. The web clients are separate codebases. I can't imagine all the talented people working at either team are happy with this situation given the way their contributions end up not coming to us users because of this separation. If anyone here is on either team, or has some insight into this, I'd really like to understand what the thinking is behind this stuff. The same sort of goes for Allo, Hangouts, etc. What gives, Google?

dvirsky 9y ago
I really hope Google won't abandon Inbox and continue developing it, I'd really hate to go back to Gmail.
- 2dvisio 9y ago
  You could move to Spark (if Mac user)
  - dvirsky 9y ago
    I've never tried it. I'm moving between Mac and Linux so I need a web based client.
    - fareesh 9y ago
      I am in the same boat - Linux for Desktop and MBP for Laptop. Web based clients are essential.
themacguffinman 9y ago
I think you're missing the point of Inbox. It's not supposed to replace Gmail, not now and not ever. It's an additional way of using Gmail, hence why its full name is actually "Inbox by Gmail". Inbox is an attempt to make Gmail easier to use for the average user who has simple needs, so all the "power user" features you want aren't supposed to be in Inbox. If your needs are complicated, you can just use Gmail. Inbox doesn't really introduce any new features that Gmail cannot do, it simply reframes Gmail features in a different UI and workflow. For example, Inbox's "done" action is available in Gmail, but in Gmail it's called "archive". Same with Inbox's "bundles": they're just called "tabs" in Gmail. As an Inbox user, I'm pretty happy with the state of Inbox. I don't need extra features get my stuff done in Inbox. Porting every Gmail feature to Inbox is missing the point.

Myrmornis 9y ago

Came to post this question also. I switched to Inbox when it came out and never looked back. The automated linking of travel emails into a cluster pertaining to the same trip, for example, is extremely useful, and after pinning anything that needs attention, clearing your inbox with the sweep button is amazing. Some clarity from google on the future of these two products would be nice.

overint 9y ago

I completely agree, I found inbox a little while ago and it's amazing. It's cut my time spent on emails by a factor of 10, and I love the inbuilt reminder system. There are a few minor annoyances but the massive time savings are well worth dealing with them.

boomskats 9y ago

Something others haven't mentioned here when discussing the gmail vs inbox situation is the trio of products, Keep + Cal + Inbox, that make for an absolutely _awesome_ reminder workflow/experience. IMHO if there's one thing missing from Gmail right now is the integration of Reminders from the other products. It doesn't really fit with the gmail workflow though, so I guess it's just another example of the same 'gmail should be more inboxy/inbox should be more gmaily' argument.